6:47
PMEager to get back to school after our break. One more week of
teaching to go then I'm off to the Uttermost. Praying that all of my
students finish well. If any of you need help or are facing unexpected
difficulties, do let me know. This isn't "Grace" Theological Seminary,
but it's close. My office door is always open.

5:30
PMTonight I'm reading, one last time, a doctoral dissertation and a
master's
thesis, the authors of which are being called before the Grand
Inquisition tomorrow morning.

I crave for myself and for
my students the mot juste, a greater mastery of exact expression,
on the premise that if something deserves to be said it deserves to be
said well. None of us, naturally, will ever write like a Tom Wright, but
all of us, I think, can gain something from training in observation and
accuracy of phrase. From boyhood I have been a lover of good books (the
Hardy Boy series got me started), and since then I've sought to handle
the literary scalpel with Germanic thoroughness. Certainly, one learns
to write by writing, and by reading. I enjoy both.

4:39
PMWonderful time this morning. Here's our group:

We had people from
Brasil, El Salvador, India, Colombia, Jamaica, Nigeria, Mexico, and
other countries. I even got to practice what little Portuguese I know. I
thoroughly enjoy this kind of ethnic diversity. It's a foretaste of
heaven.

6:54
AMOff to speak to the Internationals class at Mount Vernon Baptist
Church in Raleigh.

8:38
PMHad a great time tonight. Love students who are on mission for
Christ!

5:21
PMLooking forward to hosting a seminary couple for supper tonight. They
are in for a real treat -- Becky's one-and-only curry/chicken/broccoli
casserole (with turkey this time). Scrumptious.

12:58
PMThe saga continues ...

I once took a seminar in
Basel with Professor Reicke. It entailed translating the Greek and Latin
Fathers. We were asked to come to class each week prepared to recite and
translate without any notes whatsoever. After two semesters of these
grammatical drills we were expected to sit for our Greek and Latin orals
that were personally administered by our Doktorvater. Since I had
already been teaching classical Greek at Biola I fared well in the
seminar, through Latin was a bit of a challenge as I had merely taught
myself the language out of a textbook. I enjoyed everything Professor
Reicke did in his classes, but in this seminar his wit and humor seemed
to evaporate, and there was only grammar and dull recitation. I obeyed
strictly the rules forbidding the use of translations, though more often
than not "I found out the Latin by the meaning rather than the meaning
by the Latin" (to paraphrase Samuel Johnson). At any rate, Professor
Reicke evidently felt it his duty to examine me after only one semester,
and I received a passing grade in both languages. I disliked the
drudgery of rote translation intensely, but today I chalk that up to
boyish folly. Since then I have been associated with grammars all of my
academic career, and have toiled hard over the grammar of many
languages. The irony is that I am absurdly ignorant of the formal rules
of English grammar and often have to rely on the English majors in my
classes to resolve points of controversy.

To be continued ...

9:47
AMOver at the Treasuring Christ Church website Sean Cordell, one
of my former students, has posted a wonderful piece called
Meals are more than food, just ask Jesus. He notes that meals are
times of community, as seen in three ways:

Meals are places to
honor one another.

Meals are places to
serve one another.

Meals are places to
enjoy one another.

Little wonder the earliest
Christians apparently enjoyed a fellowship meal on a weekly basis.
Thanks for this great message, Sean!

9:32
AMThis morning I needed to clarify something for Nigusse. He was a bit
taken aback when I said that university professors in Basel did not have
regular office hours in which to meet with students. This is certainly
contrary to what he has found to be true here at SEBTS. I explained to
him that there is probably nobody more highly esteemed in all of Europe
than a full professor in a government university. As a doctoral student,
I was really a member of a very elite society of gentlemen and scholars.
The top of the ladder reached even unto Heaven (or so I foolishly
thought), and though I was perched at the very lowest rung, I was
already seeing visions and dreaming dreams. Returning to California put
a quick end to all of that. I was brought back to earth when I resumed
my duties as a lowly instructor of Greek at Biola. At any rate, if you
are thinking about studying on the continent, I hope this explanation
helps. As a regular university student you might not find your
professors as accessible as they are here, but then again, doctoral
students are usually allowed into the Inner Sanctum.

7:46
AMOur poor son Nigusse. When he saw those pictures of Becky and me in
Basel yesterday he couldn't believe his eyes. "You were once -- young!"
he blurted out. That's right, Nigu. And since you asked for more pix,
especially from our college days, I am only too happy to oblige. Yes, these are actual photos of
your Mama B and Papa B, taken at Biola College. Enjoy!

Friday, November 25

3:52
PMOrdering Ben's book about his doctoral studies has inspired me to
write my own version of "Is There a Doctor in the House? -- Dave Black
Style."

In 1980 I was duly
matriculated at the University of Basel. I immediately registered for 7
courses. In those days we did not have to attend lectures unless we
wanted to. Your professor simply signed your Testatbuch at the beginning
of the semester and again at the end. For all he knew, you might
actually be taking a course at a different university. The system worked
well -- if you were a self-starter. I studiously attended every lecture.
I will never forget my first classroom experience. As Jan Milic Lochman
entered the lecture hall we students ceased our chattering and rapped
our knuckles in applause. For 60 minutes Professor Lochman poured forth
a torrential stream of eloquence about his hero Comenius, that great
Czech theologian. As the hour struck, he stopped and walked out amid a
tumult of cheering. And so it was with most of my lectures.

I was often invited to
coffee by other ex-pat students, mostly Germans or South Koreans, to
discuss theology in one of the local Stuben. As perhaps the only
inerrantist among the Doktoranden I was assaulted mercilessly, but I
managed to stand my ground, and no friendships were broken over our
disagreements. (I never did become a Barthian.) When I was not in class
I was researching my dissertation topic in the University Library which,
as you may know, allowed no access to the shelves. It often took an hour
or more for an attendant to find a book. As a matter of fact, the
Theologisches Seminar (pictured below) had its own theological library
to which we doctoral students were granted unlimited access night and
day, and it was there that one could usually find me during the
afternoon and evening hours.

Occasionally a visiting
lecturer would offer public lectures in Basel, and in 1980 this included
none other than Francis Schaeffer. As a fellow American I cheered him
vociferously, but most of his audience was lukewarm at best, probably
because the good doctor was highly critical of Swiss society at the
time.

Neither my major professor
nor any other professor at the university had an office on campus, so if
one wanted to discuss anything with them one had to meet with them in
their homes. I was frequently a guest of Bo and Ingelisa Reicke and an
occasional visitor at the home of Oscar Cullmann on the famous
Birmannsgasse. One time I had the privilege of sharing a meal with
Professor Markus Barth and his wife at their villa in Riehen, just
outside of Basel on the German border.

That winter of 1980 in
Basel was the coldest I have ever experienced. Even the Swiss were
commenting on how frigid the temperatures were that year. But our social
life suffered little as a result. Once a month Becky and I would take in
a free organ concert at one of the city's cathedrals, and every Friday
evening we treated ourselves to the one and only MacDonald's restaurant
in town. (She ordered a Big Mac, while I insisted on my Filet-O-Fish.)
Once we attended a symphony orchestra concert, where we happened to run
into the Reickes. Because of our close association with the Baptist
community in the city (we had joined die Baptistengemeinde Basel), we
were frequently invited to eat with one of the church families, either
in their home or in a local restaurant. Here, for instance, is a photo
of us with the Jost (pronounced "Yosht") family.

We decided on Chinese food
this particular evening, a novelty for them.

Here's Becky teaching
their daughter Klärli how to
use a pair of chopsticks.

A very good time was had by all, I do
believe. Friendships such as these made our stay in that city on the
Rhine a richly rewarding one.

Becky and I found Basel a
fascinating city. The ancient buildings and narrow streets had scarcely
been altered since the days of Erasmus and Calvin. The Great Minster
afforded a spectacular view of the Rhine, while the ruins of Kaiser
Augst ("Caesar Augustus") took one back in time to the Roman occupation
of "Basilea" some 2,000 years ago. Sometimes we dined in a restaurant
overlooking the Middle Rhine Bridge (a local landmark) and watched the
barges on their way down the river to Rotterdam. I frequently patronized
the local bookshops even though I had no money to buy anything. On
Sunday mornings we faithfully attended the Gottesdienst at the Baptist
church, where there were never more than 30 or 40 people in attendance.
If I recall correctly, I preached 4 or 5 times there (in High German)
before we returned to the States. A handful of other Americans were
attending the university at the time (the names of David Moessner and
Donald Verseput come to mind). I recall standing out as the only
alkoholfrei American in the group, nor did I smoke a pipe as did so
many of the other doctoral students at the time. (Markus Barth's
seminars were filled with so much pipe smoke that I am certain I will
succumb to lung cancer one day as a result.)

I once accepted an
invitation to attend Bernard Wyss's course on reading ninth century
Greek minuscule manuscripts, the reward for which was a visit to the
sub-basement of the University Library, where an original 1516 edition
of the Erasmus Greek New Testament was physically placed in my hands --
a rare volume that I greatly desired to steal, as improper as such an
act would have been for a Basel Doktorand. Sometimes Becky and I would
tramp together in the Black Forest or the Vosges, and I clearly remember
one day standing on the exact spot in the middle of the Rhine where
Germany, France, and Switzerland meet. We also managed a trip to Greece
during this time, where, believe it or not, I fell in love with okra
(which I had previously detested). Exams there were none, save the orals
at the end of my program and the inaugural Greek and Latin orals. The
theory was, of course, that doctoral students were highly self-motivated
and loved to work independently of extrinsic motivations. I wish that as
an undergraduate I could have experienced this kind of freedom, but in
college we were treated like glorified high school students.

At any rate, I still
possess the love of learning that I mastered while a student in Basel,
and I got some inkling of what the Germans meant by that mysterious word
Innigkeit. Eventually I graduated (with high honors) and life
returned to normal, but the radiant happiness and excitement of those
old days along the Rhine have never left me.

6:25
AMOn our plate today: Helping to serve at a luncheon at Bethel Hill for
a family whose mother/grandmother just passed over. Always love being at
The Hill. We've got some really extraordinary folk there. For example, I
have a very good friend whom everybody loves for his unabashed
Jesus-like exuberance. Last Sunday, when I stuck out my hand to shake
his, he said, "Forget the handshake, Dave, just give me a bear hug." Now
remember, here is a man's man. Got me to thinking. It is no accident
that, in Christ, we men are called to virtues that are often stereotyped
as "feminine" -- patience, gentleness, verbal communication, service,
touching. Just read Eph. 4:32-5:2 if you don't believe me. The Church is
a she (the Bride of Christ). Now, there's nothing wrong with maleness. I
enjoy my masculinity. What's wrong with our male way of thinking is our
fear of the feminine. In Ethiopia, Christian men hold hands with other
Christian men. (No sexual connotations are communicated by that act.)
There the church rises above our Western sexual stereotypes. I noticed
the same thing when I was in India. The crucial truth is that, although
male aggressivity and female passivity are ingrained in us from early
childhood, as followers of Jesus we are all called upon to live beyond
our conventional notions of masculinity and femininity. Even the apostle
Paul (surely a man's man) could write about himself, "We were gentle
among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her children" (1 Thess.
2:7). Men and brethren, whether
or not you hunt or play sports, nothing is more important relationally
than the royal law of love by which we lose all fear of the feminine and
gladly give bear hugs to men we love.

6:08
AMHenry Neufeld jumps on the bandwagon. Read
Fun (or Weird) Facts about Me. Sure makes me want to visit Sacajawea Peak
in Oregon. Oh, and Henry, aren't we about due for an Energion-sponsored
tour of the Outback?

5:52
PMJust back from a nice long walk on the farm with Becky and I see that
yet another good friend Down Under has
joined the fun. And what might that book be about, Craig? Inquiring
minds want to know ....

3) And
here's
a mega shout out to John Mureiko of Kerens, TX, who just finished his
first year of Greek. You can read about it in his latest blog post
called
I'm Finished!!! I quite agree that this post deserves three
exclamation points. John, I was so glad to be able to get yall started
back in August.

But I'm even happier to see that you have now completed what you
started. I tell you, my hat's off to you in a big way!

4) Finally,
look what just came out of the oven.

Nigusse,
get ready to eeeeeeeeat!

8:26
AM
"So, what will be our Thanksgiving verse today, honey?" Becky asked me
as we sipped coffee this morning in front of a warm fireplace. The verse
that came to mind was, of course, 1 Thess. 5:18: "In everything give
thanks." We both agreed that we should give thanks "in" everything but
not necessarily "for" everything. After all, that's what we have been taught
all our lives. Then I remembered. "There's a verse somewhere," I
muttered, "that says we are to give thanks for everything."
Indeed, there it was -- Ephesians 5:20: "Giving thanks always for
all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God our Father." Sure
enough, the Greek preposition was huper, "for." The takeaways
from this verse struck us immediately:

Thankfulness is to be the consistent attitude of our lives; we are
to give thanks "at all times" (pantote).

Thanksgiving must be more than an attitude, however; it must be
expressed.

We must
learn to give thanks not only "in" every circumstance of life but
also "for" every circumstance of life.

A
thankful spirit is possible because our gratitude is based on the
name (character) of the Lord Jesus. Because He is our Master (He is
in control of everything that happens in our lives), for us to be
grumpy and gripy is like slapping Him in the face.

Thanksgiving is directed toward God our Father -- our Creator God
(who is sovereign over all His creation) and our Father God (who is
our Abba, tenderly loving us more than any earthly father ever
could).

B and I are
honest when we say to you that the trials of our life have only made us
more kingdom-focused than we would have been had we not faced these very
difficult situations. Truly, we give thanks for them. Trials
happen every day of every year around this planet of hurting humanity.
Pain is a universal problem. But God works through every trial that
comes our way. He has a Divine blueprint for our lives, and because He
is the Originator of the plans, they are workable, believable, and
reliable. And best of all, He promises His support to all who trust Him
through the painful yet essential process of growth.

Isn't that
something to be thankful for?

6:58
AM
Potpourri ...

1)
If you're looking for Thanksgiving around the web, don't miss
Becky's definition of
thankfulness.

2) Brian
LePort is
back home safe and sound after attending his first AAR/SBL meeting.
As I recall, last year everybody was "live-blogging" the event. This
year, well, the blogs gave way to Twitter. Next year I plan to be in
Chicago (the Lord willing), so hope to meet you there, Brian.

3) Peter
and John were "idiots" (Acts 4:13).
This essayist says so. What do you think? Sound exegesis? Or
etymologizing?

4) How do
we "seek" first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33)?
This answer might surprise you.

4) And why
do they just have to drink rain water (even if it's dirty) when they
have delicious well water at home?

Animals!
Don't ya just love 'em?

4:28
PM
Good evening, bloggers and bloggerettes! Today Nigusse and I got out our
trusty Stihl chain saws and laid into the bushes and trees that had been
growing along our pond dam/driveway.

The weather was perfect for working out of doors, and we managed to
finish the project in no time at all.

Always something to do on a farm!

How's it look?

8:15
AM
Interested in a DVD Greek course? Good discussion
here to get you started. Our
own DVD set is available at a reasonable cost. I am amazed at just
how widely it is used. In fact, we just got an order from New Zealand!

7:34
AM
Looking ahead ....

During the final two weeks of the semester I have asked two of my
doctoral students to lecture in my NT 2 class. Paul Himes will speak on
1 Peter and Alex Stewart on the book of Revelation. Both are covering
these subjects in their doctoral dissertations. One of the most winsome
traits to be found among the younger generation of New Testament
scholars is their desire to learn and then to apply that
knowledge. As the Scriptures make abundantly clear, the kind of
knowledge that God honors and uses is applied knowledge. That's
why it's so exciting for me to see my students studying so hard and then
seeking to share their knowledge with others. They have a teachable,
probing, discovering, and nondefensive spirit. I'm having a great time
mentoring them in their program here. I don't know who's enjoying it
more, they or I. And the best thing of all is that they genuinely desire
to put into practice what they are learning in God's Word. May their
tribe increase.

It just so
happened that both Paul and Alex sat for their Ph.D. comps on the same
day and had the same persecutors-in-chief (Beck, Robinson, Black).
Here's Paul. Paul has begun teaching in our seminary's hybrid program.

And here's
Alex. Alex has accepted an appointment to teach New Testament at Tyndale
Theological Seminary in Holland upon graduation.

Please pray
for them as they complete their dissertations this school year.

5:38
AM
Odds and ends ...

1)
Bec and I were up early this morning to Skype with the team at 4:00 am
(noon their time). Everyone looked and sounded great. Remember the
bookmarks Becky laminated for the village children?

We punched a hole in each and added a loop of yarn as decoration. Well,
it seems the children are wearing them around their necks. The Gospel
going forth throughout Alaba!

2) Less
than two weeks to go till my next international trip.

3) Arthur
Sido has problems with
artificial barriers at the Lord's Table. So do I. Incidentally, the
Lord never "invited" anyone to partake of His meal. His words are in the
imperative mood and are a command: "Do this ...."

So, what
are the most precious gifts for which an old man ought to thank God? I
have not the slightest doubt that the answer is: the blessing of God
Himself. Everything else pales in comparison. Domestic happiness, public
recognition, health -- the Trinity is in a different class from all
other sources of happiness in life. I suspect that I am not alone in
thinking this way. I am childishly fond of a good meal, a happy
fireside, a pleasant vista. To climb the Acropolis and marvel at the
symmetry of the Parthenon, to ride camel-back to the pyramids of Sakhara
in Egypt, to saunter through the ruins of ancient Rome, to linger in the
streets of Paris, to marvel at the Great Wall of China or the Herodian
fortress at Masada or the grand temples in eastern Korea or the ancient
churches of southern India -- all these bring a kind of ephemeral
happiness which, though merely passing, are still pleasures. I have
always had a roof over my head, always food and family and friends, to
say nothing of the joy of a good day's work whether in a classroom or in
a hayfield. But that transcendent relationship we call "Christianity" --
that is something to be enjoyed and not to be talked about. I certainly
have nothing to complain about under this heading.

The kingdom
of God is a place of safety. When you love God first and others second,
every other priority of life falls into its proper place. The true
disciple of Jesus is someone who is most definitely not looking back. He
is concentrating on where he is going and not where he has been. He is
looking forward to the day when God will make all things new. Every day
it becomes more and more crucial to me that I forget those things that
are behind and reach forward to those things that are ahead. Small tasks
remain to be done -- and maybe a few larger ones too.

The
Master's not through with me yet, or with you for that matter. Thanks be
to God.

Tuesday, November 22

11:02
AM
On Dec. 4 I will be holding a church leadership workshop in Durham, NC.
I thought you might be interested in the reading assignments that must
be completed prior to the workshop. If you are interested in the topic,
you might want to take a look at them yourself. You can print out the
list and check off the boxes as you complete your reading.

Do you have
traditions? I do, and one of them is to re-read a certain book about
this time of the year. It is a wonderfully written volume called
At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. It is a hefty
tome and requires a good month of relaxed reading if I am to complete it
before that "day of infamy" -- December 7, 1941. Each time I read this
book I find a fresh thought that bears fleshing out. Here's the latest:
How momentous are the little decisions of life! Every major chapter of
our lives had a very small beginning. For Admiral Yamamoto, head of the
Japanese Navy, that small beginning came in April of 1940. One day while
talking to his chief of staff he muttered, more to himself than to
anybody else, "I wonder if an aerial attack can't be made on Pearl
Harbor"?

Twelve
short words -- and a year and half later Pearl Harbor would become a
turning point in world history, an event so horrific, so spectacular,
that an entire generation of Americans would grow up saying "Remember
Pearl Harbor."

History
often impinges upon such smallish decisions. Here I am with Becky while
we were dating in La Mirada, California.

When I
finally proposed to her it was a small scratch on the slate of history.
But that decision has shaped my life for over three decades. What
university should I attend? Should I go on for that doctoral degree?
Whom should I marry? How does one separate cause from effect or
determine the significance of one small decision in life? I believe the
reason God does not wipe out our past memory is because He wants to use
that part of our lives for the work He has called us to do. He can take
each and every decision we've ever made -- wise or unwise -- and make it
to be our greatest lesson in the future. He can weave it into the
tapestry of our life, and out of it He can teach us wonderful lessons
that otherwise we would never have learned.

I guarantee
that no matter how old you are, God still has a new work He wants to do
in your life. Tell Him you intend to keep on running the race set before
you in such a way as to win the prize. Set high goals for yourself --
you'll never reach higher. Don't be afraid to make those really tough
decisions that glorify Him. God can use you today to be a blessing to
others around you. But following God's will doesn't happen
automatically. That's because He has given us a choice as to whether we
will seek His will and do what He says. We must decide. We must
step out by faith. At this season of the year, perhaps a good
place to start is by "giving thanks in all things" (1 Thess. 5:18).
Thank the Lord for preserving you to this point in the race. Ask Him to
guide your every step. Only He knows the way you should go. Align your
heart with His, and watch Him bring your little dreams to fruition.

As for
Becky and me, 35 years after she accepted my proposal, we are still
moving forward, still passionate about the Gospel, ever seeking new ways
to serve King Jesus together. Because of Him, our best years are still
ahead.

I can’t help but wonder which came
first: the impulse to over-theologize the New Testament, thus
removing our personal responsibility to obey the implications of
Jesus’ teachings, or the tendency to separate thinking from living,
doctrine from practice, orthodoxy from orthopraxy. Either way, the
answer to bad theology is not no theology but good theology. Let me
emphasize again: I love theology! I am all for engaging our minds to
their fullest when it comes to the Scriptures. A man who has
authored or edited such books as Interpreting the New Testament,
Rethinking the Synoptic Problem, and Learn to Read New
Testament Greek might well feel justified in calling himself a
serious student of the Bible. But the sad reality is that one can
write books about the New Testament and yet fail to incarnate the
teachings of Jesus in one’s own values, beliefs, and practices. And
that is precisely my point in this book. The holiest and most
necessary expression of Christian theology is also the most
ordinary. God’s grace is experienced in every sphere of life,
including such mundane acts as working, eating, and socializing.

Do you agree? Is
there a disconnect between the academy and the world Jesus died for?

12:52
PM
Recently Mark Goodacre asked,
Is blogging really worth it? What an excellent question! For what
it's worth, I offer a quick response. It doesn't matter who you are, or
how long you've been a follower of the Lord Jesus, or what age you might
be, or the condition of your body and soul -- this blog is for you. I've
been a devoted follower of Jesus for 51 years and I need this blog too.
In fact, I write it for myself as much as I write it for you. That's
because you and I are alike. We both find life, at times, complex rather
than simple, difficult rather than easy, challenging rather than
exhilarating. In the midst of our busy lives, with all of our
challenges, it's good to take the time to refocus our attention on God.
In the past 8 years I've come to realize just how important blogging has
become to me because it allows me time to reflect on all the good things
God is doing in my life (and in the lives of those whom I love). It
helps me keep focused on who God is and who He has made me to be. By
speaking about His goodness and love, my faith is strengthened and I am
encouraged to believe the impossible. Who among us doesn't need that?

This blog
is dedicated to all my brothers and sisters in the Lord all over the
world who long to deepen their walk with God, move into everything He
has for them, and become all He has made them to be. My prayer for this
blog, and for yours, is simply this: "Let the beauty of the Lord our God
be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us" (Psalm 90:17). I
am desperately aware of how much I need His power to transform my life
and my circumstances. I don't want to be a spiritual underachiever. I
don't want to live an ineffective life. The purpose of this blog is to
help us not to forget Him. It is my joy to publish it and my honor to
affirm that all my longings, loneliness, and emptiness are more than met
in Him. No one will ever know me as well or love me as much. And the
same goes for you.

12:18
PM
Encouraging word
here from Henry Neufeld about avoiding stereotyping when arguing for
one's theological point of view.

11:49
AM
Odds and ends ...

1) Today
I'm fixing a water leak in my crawlspace. Have no idea what I'm doing.
Thanks for troubleshooting with me, Ed.

2) Thomas
Hudgins is offering a free beginning Greek class in Spanish. You can
either attend the class in Apex, NC, or attend "live" via the Internet.
For more information, go
here (English) or
here (Spanish).

3) Recently
someone asked me which commentary on Philippians I liked in addition to
Hawthorne's. Hands down the answer is O'Brien's.

4) In case
you didn't know, we have a web page called
Ethiopia
Files. We delight in sharing what the Lord Jesus is doing in that
great land. It's updated frequently, so do check in with us often.

The project is well under way and I
couldn't be more excited. Currently we are in discussions with a
publisher in Latin America. Prayers would be appreciated.

(By the way, today I treated Becky and
Nigusse to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We were undercharged for our
meal. I handled the whole thing in Spanish. Aren't you proud of me?)

7:58
PM
This was the week when Herbert Cain failed his Libya test ("I got all
this stuff twirling around in my head").

Students take note. When the day of the final comes and you have run out
of reasons for doing so poorly in class, you can always resort to alibi:
"Well, you see, your expectations of me are way too high. You actually
expect me to remember all this stuff you taught me? Man, I went through
brain burnout months ago!"

Of course, there's another alternative. You can always admit you didn't
study and that, as a result, you know nothing about the subject.

7:38
PM
Odds and ends...

1)
Today Nigusse led our Sunday School class. He taught from Ephesians 4
and the way we grieve the Holy Spirit through our harmful words. As he
spoke I thought about blogging. Our blog posts can be harmful or
helpful. They can build up or tear down. They can make the Holy Spirit
happy -- or make Him sad. Blogging is a great joy but also an awesome
responsibility.

2) Thanks
to your prayers and the help of the Spirit, our Skype connection with
our team in Alaba today was excellent. Each of the Bethel Hill crew
spoke briefly and then elder Jason prayed for them and their work.
Tomorrow the team will begin fanning out to their various ministries. No
vacation for them there!

3) Looking
ahead ... tomorrow Becky has her next Avastin treatment at UNC. I have
toyed with the idea of taking Becky and Nigusse to the Ethiopian
restaurant in Raleigh for lunch. You know, showing solidarity with the
team, and all that. Do we miss Alaba? Are there cows in Texas?

4) Finally,
Jason brought a great Thanksgiving message today on -- the wrath of God!
Becky and I both took thorough notes. Hers are published
here. Enjoy!

8:53
AM
Once again, Kolo got his horns stuck in the fence while trying to eat
some grass on the other side. His mama, Fandisha, stayed close by,
worried to death I'm sure.

Not to fear: We are here to extricate our goats from their self-induced
problems. Lessons?

1) The
grass is always greener on the other side.

2) Our
greatest assets (horns) can also prove to be our greatest liabilities.

3) A
mother's love is eternal.

8:42
AM
Hello Internet friends,

Some of you
who have been reading this site for a while may recall that I've been
working on a new book called
Will You Join the
Cause of Global Missions? My desire is to reflect accurately what
Scripture teaches in the area of associating with non-Christians and
their world. I'm not especially concerned with our hallowed manmade
traditions of doing missions. I feel like I've hit on some insights that
provide a framework that allows me to combine the twin foci of unity and
missions that we see throughout the New Testament. So if you'll bear
with me, I think I'll introduce you to a few quotes from the forthcoming
book. For starters, here's something to chew on:

Jesus’ disciples enjoyed community
simply because Jesus and not a set of dogmas was at the center of
their life. They never tried to “build community.” They didn’t have
to. Community was the result of being united in the Christian
mission; community emerged naturally when they committed themselves
to something bigger than themselves. And so it is in the church
today. It is my personal observation that most Christians begin to
enjoy genuine community only when they begin to serve the poor,
evangelize the lost, and plant churches. The glue that unites them
is the missional task of loving their neighbors. A shared sense of
mission drives them to community. Their congregations are
mission-shaped. Like Jesus, they literally go. For them the Bible,
not tradition, is normative, and they hold themselves accountable to
each other in love even while they work closely with the surrounding
neighborhood, developing strong links between Christians and not-yet
Christians.

I think
it's very clear that the New Testament affirms Christian mission as the
basis for our unity in the Body of Christ. I feel compelled, out of
fidelity to Jesus, to repudiate the notion that cooperation is
impossible on a practical level. I'll leave you with this teaser
thought: Jesus prayed for our unity in John 17. Can Jesus pray a prayer
and it not be answered?

Enjoy the
Lord's Day!

Dave

Saturday, November 19

6:48
PM
The topic of conversation around the dinner table tonight? Alaba, of
course. Many, many happy memories of our times there. And to think it
all began because of the murder of a Christian in 2005. It was about
then that I began to seriously question the "cult of verbal
Christianity" -- the almost intentional preoccupation with Bible
teaching to the exclusion of wordless ethics of unmotivated, daily,
pedestrian relationships with the suffering church. Loving people far
away -- this was always a matter for professional missionaries, not for
me. Each of us, I suppose, has to settle this point once and for all.
The power of love is attested by our sacrifice, not by our God-talk. We
have to make a definite choice to put the kingdom of God first and then
trust Him to add "all these things" to us. I am so grateful for that day
when I made my first trip to Alaba. It is a place that will always be
deep in our hearts.

4:21
PM
The disturbing image of students at U. C. Davis being pepper sprayed
by police reminded me of something the Polish novelist Stanislaw Lec
once said: "In a war of ideas, it is people who get killed."

The appeal of the OWS movement sounds so modern -- rejection of their
parents' values, redistribution of wealth -- but it represents the same
old half-truth that gave us Socialism. Ideologies, whether of the left
or the right, share the same common flaw -- they miss the paradox of the
cross. As C. S. Lewis reminded us, there are only two kinds of people --
those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says,
"Very well, then, thy will be done."

Adam blamed
Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent, and today we blame either big
government or Wall Street for what ails us as a society. We are experts
at passing the buck, blaming everything and everybody but ourselves for
the selfishness we see in the world. The prodigal son had a list of
alibis a mile long, but his salvation began when he said, "I have
sinned." Modern prodigals on both sides of the political spectrum spout
a thousand excuses -- and then go on feeding the hogs.

11:10
AM
My body is here in Virginia but my mind wanders disobediently to faraway
Alaba, land that I love. How are our missionaries doing? How
effective will their ministries be? These questions constantly run
through my mind. It is becoming clearer and clearer to me each day what
missions is. It is a process, and a highly unpredictable one at that. It
begins by giving up our presumptuous notion that we can give salvation
to anyone. Only the Father can draw the lost to Himself. The work of
missions is His from beginning to end. This is a truth that missionaries
of Jesus Christ fully and consciously accept. Of course, this does not
relieve us of our obligation to make the proclamation of Jesus Christ
concrete. This is, after all, our task. This applies not only to the
spoken word but also to the language of gestures and actions. I always
show this photo whenever I speak about missions because it encapsulates
for me what the word "missions" means.

The true import of the Gospel is always perceived through the visible
signs offered. The message of Jesus Christ cannot be presented abruptly,
without the use of love language that is comprehensible to the listener.
In fact, the missionary cannot offer anything more than signs, and it is
Christ who then speaks through His Spirit among these signs.

Because
missionary service is nothing more than signs, nothing more than a
summons, we have no guarantee that it will be effective in any given
situation. As a general rule, of course, the Gospel is effective, but if
people do not respond to it -- well, that is the rub. As missionaries we
have no right to expect a concrete response. All we can do is go on
living the signs, aware that the summons to Christ cannot be reduced to
any one method or strategy. What we cannot do is fail to touch the
person's basic humanity that lies buried beneath the trappings of skin
color, educational status, or nationality. No one knew this better than
the apostle Paul, who once said of his own missionary work, "Because of
our love for you we were ready to share with you not only the Good News
from God but even our very own lives. You were so dear to us!" (1 Thess.
2:8).

I am
certain that everyone on our team -- Cindi, Katy, Kandace, Abigail,
Dale, Jason, Kevin -- all of them together truly and deeply love the
people of Alaba. Like the Jesus they serve, they do not try to shine by
virtue of their educational or cultural background. They wish to touch
people at the very core of their being. The course of history will
reveal how effective they were in doing this.

9:25
AM
I hesitate to link to
this blog entry lest I inadvertently give support to The
Etymological New Testament. But Bible students should be aware that
this sort of thing happens. For example, here's John 3:16:

For Placer so loved
the system, that he gave his uniquely-becoming son that whosoever is
trusting into the same, should not be from-whole-loosed, but have
life of unconditional-being.

Theos
means "Placer"?

Incidentally, etymologizing is not a modern phenomenon only; it was
widely practiced in the ancient world as well. And it is one of the
exegetical fallacies that Ben Baxter discusses in his forthcoming book
"In the Original Text It Says." As I've
pointed out to my students hundreds of time, you don't have to have been
born and raised in Hawaii like me to know that a pineapple is not an
apple that grows on a pine tree.

9:04
AM
You won't hear about it on CNN, but I have some news that ought to make
headlines worldwide. Today we Skyped with Ethiopia for the very first
time in history.

We spoke with the Team and everybody looked and sounded great. Tomorrow
we hope to Skype with the team in our churches to allow the U.S.
congregations to see "their" missionaries.

Please pray, if you would, that all goes well with the connection. I
can't tell you what this will do for our ability to communicate with the
church in Alaba.
Today the Team is resting for the first
time since they left on Wednesday. Tomorrow will be a full day of
teaching and preaching. In the meantime, let's continue "Skyping" with
Heaven, where the connection is always good.

8:31
AM
Good day to you, bloggerites of the world!

This week
our Greek 3 class finished translating the book of Philippians. We went
out with a bang. If anyone wants to know why I recommend Gerald Hawthorne's
commentary on Philippians, his discussion of 4:10-20 is a big part of
the reason.

Hawthorne makes the following points about the passage:

1) Although
Paul championed the right to be supported by those to whom he preached,
he preferred to support himself by manual labor.

2) He
insisted on doing this for three reasons:

a) He wanted to
offer the Gospel free of charge.

b) He
wanted to ward off any accusations that his mission was a pretext
for greed.

c) He
wanted to set the proper example for others.

3) Paul
never hesitated to ask for money -- for others!

4) The
Philippians' gifts to Paul were unsolicited and violated Paul's strict
principles.

5) Paul,
therefore, must insist on his own financial independence even as he
gratefully acknowledges their generosity towards him.

7) His
self-sufficiency is relative, however. He can face any circumstance only
because he is "in union with the One who infuses me with strength"
(4:13).

It is
evident that receiving gifts from others was a very sensitive issue for
Paul. It was a matter that required both firmness and tact. Hence he
thanks the Philippians without really thanking them. (Some have called
Phil. 4:10-20 Paul's "thankless thanks.") The value of their gift was
primarily as an expression of the work of Christ in them. Paul is, I
suppose, the classic example of a tentmaking missionary. He does not
seem to have been concerned about his finances. The Lord had indicated
to him that he should work for his own living -- something he is eager
to exhort his fellow believers to do as well (Eph. 4:26; 1 Thess.
4:11-12). Yet he was humble enough to graciously receive unsolicited
gifts. The only thing he would not do is ask for money for
himself.

Most of us
find conversations about Christian finances difficult, as did Paul. What
on earth are we supposed to do when a close relative of ours asks us to
support their summer mission trip? We, like Paul, must be in vital touch
with the Lord. We must be prayerfully open to sensing His leading
towards the individual He wants us to help. I am certain that I have
missed many opportunities because I have been too distracted by my own
agenda. But it is essential if we are to help other people that we
follow the Lord's leading. One approach that has occurred to me is this:
When a loved one asks me to support their summer mission trip, I can
say: "I'm happy to help you, but you must match every dollar I give you
from your own savings." When I give, I want to see that there is at
least some effort by the recipient, if he or she is able, to add to the
kitty out of their own savings and thrift. Serving Jesus is costly. Paul
knew this very well. During the day he preached; during the night he
plied his trade. The truth of the matter is that Paul, united with
Christ, was able to face life confidently, irrespective of the aid of
others. He was "untroubled by the vicissitudes of life" (Hawthorne). He
lacked nothing. And this is true partly because he was willing to
support himself.

I find that
this principle is perfectly possible to operate in today's world. And I
am quite certain that the combination of a high work ethic with a
generous spirit of giving (and receiving!) is a great attraction in
proclaiming and demonstrating the Good News.

Wouldn't
you agree?

Happy
working -- and giving!

Dave

Friday, November 18

5:50
PM
Ethiopia Team update:

Praise God that the
team arrived safely in Alaba.

Praise
God that everyone is healthy and rested.

Pray
for Miss Cindy as she begins her women's class tomorrow morning.

Pray
for Kevin who will be setting up Skype and practicing with Becky all
day tomorrow.

1:08
PM
This just in! One of my students, Jacob Cerone, has just produced
interactive Greek vocabulary cards not only for
my beginning Greek grammar but also for Metzger's word lists and the
LXX. Go here to
check them out. You will not be disappointed.

(Note:
Where it says "Sets (92)" you will need to scroll down to access my
vocabulary.)

Thank you,
Jacob, for this phenomenal labor of love!

12:48
PM
Honored to be invited to speak in the Local and International Sunday
School Class at Mount Vernon Baptist Church on Sunday, November 27, at
9:45.

11:56
AM
Greek students! I've just added the following to my
Greek Portal:

The "Living
Koine" Approach:

Some professors are trying to teach the biblical languages by
using techniques commonly appropriated when learning modern (living)
languages. This "living language" approach goes by various names so
we'll try to highlight some of the more notable ones here:

11:04
AM
A thousand apologies for not posting these pictures sooner. I know all
of you have been waiting breathlessly to see photos of the blanket Becky
made for baby Beki in Burji. Isn't it somethin'?

Note the date: The Ethiopian (Julian) calendar is 7 years behind ours
(the Gregorian).

On Wednesday a group of supporters got together at Food Lion in Roxboro
to pray for the departing Ethiopia Team. I wanted so much to be there
but had to work.

Below: The Intrepid Seven, arriving at RDU. Go, team, go!

Here Mama B gives some last minute instructions to Jason and "Papa"
Kevin. (Yes, since Mama B and Papa B cannot go with you, you are now
officially a "Papa," Kevin.)

Can you believe it? None of their bags was overweight!

You ask, What are those pompoms for? Believe me, baggage claim is
negotiated a lot quicker when you have brightly-colored pompoms on your
bags.

I snapped this photo not 20 minutes ago. Becky had called the home of
Martha and Demissie in Alaba to check up on the team, who were all at
church. So she had a nice conversation (in Amharic, I might add) with
our dear sister Martha.

Martha is a national treasure in Ethiopia. She feeds our teams breakfast
and dinner each and every day.

She is as much a part of Team Ethiopia 2011 as you are -- if you are
praying!

10:06
AM
Looking ahead ...

Mark your
calendars now to attend the annual 20/20 conference on the SEBTS campus.
The dates are February 3-4. This year's theme is "The Scriptures Come to
Life," and the plenary speakers include Don Carson, Danny Akin, and Tony
Merida. Lots of breakout sessions too. (I've been asked to speak on the
topic, "How do I read the Gospels, and why are there four Gospels?") For
details, go
here.

9:38
AM
Good morning, friends!

Lately I've
been thinking a lot about what makes missions so important. By very
definition, missions is the task of the church, yet up until now
"missiology" has remained on the margins of theology. By and large,
theologians do not pay much attention to missions, and even newer
theological approaches to missions seem designed to revitalize
Christendom rather than to call into question age-old assumptions and
institutions. How can one really call upon institution that is organized
to lead and ask it to serve? Are we not inclined to cling to traditional
notions of missions instead of submitting everything we do to the
judgment of the biblical text?

The subject
of missions demands careful and critical study. Nigusse keeps telling me
that I'm going to end up one day writing an entire book on the subject.
Years ago I almost did. In the late 1970s I had a meeting in Tübingen
with Peter Beyerhaus, the university's highly esteemed professor of
world missions, to discuss the possibility of writing a dissertation
under his direction. He was eager to begin, but by that time I was
already committed to studying under Bo Reicke in Basel. As you know, I
ended up writing a dissertation about the church and Christian living (Paul,
Apostle of Weakness). But the church comes after the Gospel mission,
not before it. The first exists for the second. The church exists only
to carry on what Jesus Himself did, incarnating His ministry in a modern
cultural context. As I frequently tell my students, "The church is the
Body of Christ, and what did Christ do with His body? He gave it for the
world." As Bonhoeffer once put it, "The Church is the Church only when
it exists for others" (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 203).

In a brand
new essay, my Old Testament colleague Tracy McKenzie and I offer a new
analysis of the church as a missionary organism. Our essay is called
Top Ten Misconceptions
about Missions. Our thesis is that as local congregations begin to
study the Scriptures (both Old and New Testaments) they will become what
they are by faith: God's missionary people. This is the first of several
essays I plan on co-authoring with faculty and student colleagues who
share my interest in the theology of the Gospel mission. Who knows where
this will lead. Maybe a co-authored book? We'll see ...

Please take
a look at our essay and let us know what you think.

Blessings
in the Lamb,

Dave

Thursday, November 17

6:50
PM
Thank you, Henry,
for joining us in prayer for Ethiopia Team 2011!

6:45
PM
I've begun doing the final edits of a magnificence little work.

It's by Ben Baxter and called "In the Original Text It Says." It
deals with those infamous word study fallacies that are still celebrated
today in sermon and commentary. Here's what Stanley Porter of McMaster
Divinity School has to say about the book:

Ben Baxter has written
a provocative study that will challenge pastors to be better
informed linguistically and hence to be able to be more responsible
exegetes. We who teach and preach the Scriptures are given a
tremendous privilege and opportunity to open God's word for our
people, and we cannot afford to make serious mistakes that
misconstrue its meaning. Although often overlooked, language
study stands at the
heart of good exegesis. Baxter's book will be a valuable tool to
help pastors and teachers avoid falling into some of the
common errors and abuses of interpretation of the Bible. I highly
recommend that pastors read and, more importantly, learn from and
use this book.

Allan
Bevere (a magnificent blogger!)
and I have
added it to the Areopagus
lineup.

I'm very pleased with this work and glad I was able to persuade Mr.
Baxter to submit it to us.
Look for an early 2012
release.

3:52
PM
Heartiest congratulations to:

1) Andy
Bowden for the phenomenal job he did yesterday in my NT 2 class.

2) Miss Ev Wesson who celebrated her 85th
birthday on Tuesday. She has served the Lord and Southeastern as a
secretary for 50 years. Happy Birthday, Miss Ev! May God richly bless
you for your faithfulness to Him!

3:40
PM
Newsflash! Our Ethiopia team has arrived in Addis! Went straight through
customs without a hitch. They are now resting at the Addis Kidan guest
house before leaving for Alaba tomorrow morning. Keep
praying!

2) Dallas Seminary's Michael Burer has been
blogging from the ETS meeting in San Francisco.

3) Someone sent me this:

EXERCISE FOR PEOPLE
OVER 50

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface,
where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato bag in
each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them
there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.

Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit
longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags. Then try
50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a
100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms
straight for more than a full minute. (I'm at this level.)

After you feel confident at that level, put a
potato in each bag.

4) Finally, for no particular reason, here are some fun facts about
me:

My favorite food is … Korean.

I cannot stomach … watercress.

My favorite TV show is … I don't watch TV.

In my spare time I … write.

One word used to describe me when growing up
… lazy.

One word used to describe me today …
diligent.

If I had a million dollars I'd … give them
to the church in Ethiopia.

I send this many emails each day … 50.

Being a teacher is … humbling.

My favorite book that I've written is …
The Jesus Paradigm.

Before I die I want to meet … Aussie John
and Mark Stevens (both live Down Under).

My (earthly) hero is … Conrad Grebel.

My favorite theologian is … Jacques Ellul.

I went to high school at … Kailua High
School (go Surfriders!).

My favorite spot on earth is … Waikiki Beach
at sunset.

If I wasn't an educator I would be… an
airline pilot.

My favorite Bible verse is … Phil. 1:29.

My favorite pet is … our Sheltie Sheba.

My favorite commentary on Ephesians is by …
Hoehner.

I am embarrassed that I … can't remember
people's names.

I used to teach at … Biola University.

I once lectured … on the Costa del Sol in
Spain.

Becky and I honeymooned in … Hawaii
(obviously!).

Our first mission trip together was to …
West Germany.

My first book publisher was … Peter Lang
(New York).

My first journal article appeared in … the
Grace Theological Journal.

I was once asked to … head up the Ph.D.
program at SEBTS.

I have been invited to write commentaries on
… Hebrews and Philippians (I passed on both).

My longest selling book is … Linguistics
for Students of New Testament Greek (first published in 1988).

My rank in the army (as a Civil War
reenactor) is … private.

During reenactments I have preached sermons
with the following in attendance … Robert E. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson.

My fastest speed on horseback when riding
cross-country was … 40 miles per hour.

Number of "unplanned dismounts" while riding
… 3.

I named one of my horses "Traveler" after …
General Lee's steed.

My favorite Hitchcock movie is … North by
Northwest.

Most people don't know that I … have to work
hard to learn a foreign language.

I have never been in … South America.

The number of states in the U.S. I've been
in is … 48.

While in high school I made … first chair,
first trumpet, in the all-state band (I don't play a lick today).

So … what are some fun facts about you?

Tuesday, November 15

5:58
AM
Here's a brief discussion of the
Life Cycle of a Pastor. What a very sad commentary. And so
unnecessary. We assume that our churches will have a solitary (and
soon-to-be-moving-on) pastor. You find nothing of the sort in the New
Testament. Theirs was a fellowship of leadership. It involved a team. I
am convinced that this is the only real solution to "pastoral tenure."
What do you think?

5:48
AM
Quick update:

1) Our
Ethiopia team leaves tomorrow. Becky has produced a
day-by-day itinerary and prayer guide
for your convenience. Like
Jesus, they are joining those at the bottom, the people on the margins
of life. God bless them, each one. They covet your prayers.

2) In
Wednesday's NT 2 class our guest speaker will be my Th.M. student (and
soon-to-be doctoral student at the University of Munich)
Andy Bowden, who will be
examining with us the discourse structure of James. His approach is, I
must say, refreshingly unique. Before he lectures
I'll be sharing a few thoughts about the letter's emphasis on practical
Christian living ("Christianity in overalls"). As always, do join us if
you are so inclined.

3) Nigusse
and I are making our twelfth missionary journey to Wake Forest today.
Yes, we are calling our trips to campus "missionary journeys." We pass
through Judea (Mecklenburg County, VA) and Samaria (Granville County,
NC) before reaching the uttermost parts of the earth (SEBTS in Wake
County). We indulge this little fiction as it makes the drive a bit
more interesting and enjoyable.

Monday, November 14

1:44
PM
Becky just left for church with her laptop. At 2:00 she will Skype
Nigusse on the new Alaba laptop which is now on our kitchen counter. If
everything works as planned, Bethel Hill will be able to have a video
conference with our team in Alaba during our morning service next
Sunday. Mind-blowing.

1:35
PM
Good day to you, bloggers! As you know, this weekend I was honored to
speak at Hunt Springs Baptist Church in Sanford, NC. My talks centered
on how radically different the kingdom of God is from the kingdoms of
this world and why it is important to faithfully follow the Scriptures
in obedience and love, even when this goes against tradition. I just
loved the warmth and humility of this wonderful congregation and
especially the passion of their pastor to follow the simple teachings of
Scripture. One example: The church has declared the entire month of
December as "Pastor Appreciation Month." As a congregation that
recognizes the sole headship of Christ as the Senior Pastor of the
Church (praise God!), they will spend each Sunday and Wednesday
during December sharing testimonies of what Jesus Christ has meant to
them this past year. Isn't that magnificent?

I think my
talks were well received (which is not to say they couldn't have
been presented better!). I honestly was delighted when Pastor Wes agreed
to announce the event as a "Bible Conference" instead of your typical
Baptist "revival" meeting.

As you know, my passion in teaching is to see
every Christian instructed in the Scriptures in such a way that they are
motivated to become involved in fulltime Christian ministry. Each of us had been ordained by
God for missionary service. I like the thought found on the barn of a
farmer in Georgia: "Christianity is our business; we farm only to pay
expenses." We're all in the business of Christianity regardless of how
we earn our livelihood. In the New Testament, the term "call" refers to
God's call to salvation and service. Every Christian is called by God to
serve Him in the church and the world through personal ministry. Each of
us has a gift from God to exercise in the building up of the church for
the common good (1 Cor. 12:4-6). God has invited every one of us to
experience the joy of serving Him!

A pastor's
aim is not to do the work of the ministry but to see that others are
engaged in the service of God. Accomplishing this goal requires that
pastors/elders become competent equippers who multiply their ministry by
the work of those prepared for service. The hierarchy model of church
government insists that every organization must have a key or dominant
leader. It charges the pastor to be this leader. However, this status
and function as Head of the church belongs to Christ alone. Thus
ordination, as practiced by most churches today, is unhelpful. If only
"real" ministers are ordained, people who are not ordained will have no
incentive to develop their gifts of preaching and teaching. Paul made it
clear that all of the Colossian believers were to teach and admonish one
another (Col. 3:16). The author of Hebrews makes the same point when he
writes, "Exhort one another every day" (Heb. 3:13). The message is
clear. All Christians are Body-builders (they are to "edify"),
but we do not all build in the same way. The New Testament envisages
that all Christian disciples will be involved in the "work of the Lord"
(1 Cor. 15:58). According to Paul, every member ministry is the normal
Christian life. It means standing together with our leaders in profound
unity, teamwork, and solidarity. In Phil. 1:5, Paul refers to this
solidarity as a "partnership" in the Gospel. All of us -- leaders and
led alike -- are Gospel partners, longing and striving to see the Gospel
defended and proclaimed.

Recently
someone suggested that our churches should not have "membership" covenants
any longer. Instead, we should have "partnership" covenants. I love that
idea! I mean, in the final analysis, what we're after is not more
passive church members, right? In our spectator-oriented culture, it's
essential to realize that a major element of growing in grace is a
willingness to get our hands dirty in real-life ministry.

Do you know
the biggest hurdle to this? Me. If I fail to get involved, I will spend my life
simply getting by. I've got to give myself permission to serve, plain and simple.
God has a unique work for me to do. At the risk of repetition overkill,
may I remind us that a life committed to Christ is not a laid-back
vacation? God, in grace, has given us the privilege of serving Him. So
are we?

I came away
from the Bible conference with a refreshing reminder of just how
powerful, beautiful, and amazing God's Word is. My conviction is that if
our churches would hold loosely to our traditions, we would be able to
raise up a generation of leaders and followers who boldly embody
Jesus' upside-down kingdom values. May it be!

Cheers,

Dave

Saturday, November 12

8:34
AM
Odds and ends ...

1) Last
night Nigusse and I waited upon Becky and her friend Rachael, who came
over for supper. We figured Becky needed a respite from her arduous
labors for Ethiopia. We served them appetizers in the living room
...

...then
supper in the formal dining room.

Yes, food was eventually served.

2) This
weekend I will be in Sanford, NC, for a series of messages today and
tomorrow. The venue is Hunt Springs Baptist Church. Wes, my NT 2
student, pastors there. Service times are 1:30 and 6:00 today and 11:00
and 6:00 tomorrow. And of course, we will be doing lots of good eating
today at 4:00 pm. We are Baptists, you know. I hope we will all
rekindle our passion for the kingdom while holding loosely to everything
else in life.

3) Bible
translation is not easy.
This video of the ESV Committee on Translation hard at work is proof
positive. I'm reminded of the fantastic truth that we have a God who
enters our world through the words of His Word.

1) Usually for several days before the
Team leaves, our home turns into one big suitcase!

The suitcases are
packed full of things for the Ethiopian church, but they are not closed
until the last minute. Then we weigh them and hope they are not more
than the 50 pounds allowed free. At 51 pounds, they cost a mere
$200 each! The suitcases for this trip are filled with 2 invertors for
the Burji church's solar system, 5 more Sabers for the Rural Bible
Teaching program, several sacks of clothes for the evangelists, protein
bars, and eye glasses. And hidden in with the rest of the things are
clothes and gifts for my "children"...Baby Becky in Burji, Little
Tiblett
in the village of Shule (Burji), and Young Nathan in Alaba Town. Baby Becky is getting a rattle,
Tiblett is getting a Toddler Bible
Story picture book, and Nathan is getting some trucks, an ambulance, and
a fire-engine (both of which light up and make the appropriate sounds). Sure wish I could be with them when they get their things :)

2) Now let me share with you how my Lord
does His work. Several years ago a friend gave me a book marker
that she had made. It was laminated, with a picture and a poem. I've kept it, thinking it would be good to do something like this for
Christians in Ethiopia. Well, the time has come! We have 3
young ladies on the Team leaving Wednesday who will be working with the
children of Alaba. I'm guessing about 500 children in the Town and
villages will be touch by these young ladies. They will be
learning about the characteristics of Jesus.

So God put into my head to make these
bookmarkers for these children. Two years ago I made laminated
posters for the clinic walls. Nigusse and I have cut/pasted from
those posters to make these bookmarkers. "Jesus is the Good
Shepherd." "Jesus is the light of the world." "Jesus is the
Way, the Truth, the Life. "And so on. A message about Jesus
is on each side, along with a picture or decoration. After
laminating them, we've punched a hole at one corner, and we will string
yarn through the hole, so these can be hung in homes, etc. Our goal
is to make 1,000 of these bookmarkers! They will be spread all
over Alaba! The Gospel going forth in the hands of these little
children....into their homes, their schools, their neighborhoods, their
playgrounds. And who knows what God will do with His word!

"God is doing a great work!" "God is
getting ready to save someone!" Nigusse's enthusiasm is genuine. It has been overwhelming to me to think that my Lord has given me this
idea, has given me all the materials to do the work, and is allowing me
to have a part in His Kingdom in Ethiopia!

I tell you! There is NOTHING so
satisfying, so thrilling, so energizing as working in His Kingdom!
Not marriage, not children, not grandchildren, not health, not wealth,
not home or farm ... nothing comes even a little close to the joy and
satisfaction of doing His work! Thank you, Lord, for allowing me
this privilege!!

In the Kids Kards below, one says "Jesus
is the Light of the World; the person who believes in Him will not walk
in darkness."

The other one says "Jesus is the Resurrection and
the Life. Whoever comes to Him will have eternal life."

There will, of course, be disagreement
with any book on such a controversial subject. Because divorce (and
remarriage) is so prevalent in the evangelical world today, books like
this one are important. Without giving away the conclusion, I'll just
say that I believe the author has shown us a legitimate way of
interpreting the passages involved. It is academic yet readable. I
greatly enjoyed editing it.

1:02
PMThis week in our Greek 3 class
we exegeted Phil. 4:1-9, a passage full of references to the need for
unity and cooperation in the cause of the Gospel. I want to say from the
start that I have tremendous respect for my students who are trying to
effect changes in their churches. I deeply appreciate the fact that they
want to go about the process in a way that is conducive to unity and
does not fight against it. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but
I do think it is wrong to force change without at least doing our very
best to build a consensus. Commenting on harmony in the church, Howard
Marshall (New Testament Theology, p. 347) writes:

Such harmony could
arise in two ways. One possibility is that there is considerable
toleration of different points of view, so that people do not fight
over differences of opinion on nonessential matters. The other
possibility is that people are united because they are in agreement
about how they should think and act.

This is excellent advice from a leading
evangelical scholar. Let's say, for example, you are a leader in a
traditional Baptist church and have a desire (which you share with a few
others) that the church move forward toward what you consider to be a
more biblical ecclesiology, in this case a plurality of elders
("elder-led congregationalism"). This desire, if pursued, is likely to
lead to divisions in the church if carried out selfishly – that is, if
you fail to consider the needs of others rather than just your own. So,
although you are convinced that having multiple elders is a healthier
and more biblical pattern for the church than having a single pastor,
you are not interested in fighting to get your way. In seeking to
introduce change to our churches, there can never be any irritation or
ridicule toward someone with whom we might disagree. We must banish from
our mindset once and for all both censoriousness and contempt. At the
same time, it is still possible (and, I think, both desirable and
needful) that every congregation consider carefully what the Scriptures
teach "about how they should think and act" (as Marshall puts it). I
think this is what Paul means by "being of the same mind in the Lord" in
Phil. 4:2. He is referring to a disposition of like-mindedness whereby
we bring to the table an attitude of unity, cooperation, amity, and
harmony. This is a far cry from putting our brains in park or neutral.
And it is certainly no excuse for sloppy thinking. There must be
agreement in the congregation that the Word of God comes first, and that
whatever course of action is decided upon must be dictated by conviction
and not simply by convention. We would all do well to remember that it
is our duty to have biblical convictions, and that it is our equal duty
to allow others to have theirs. But I'm talking about convictions, not
blind allegiance to tradition.

I'm hopeful that all of us, but especially the 20- and 30-somethings
in our churches, might be willing to be nothings in God's great
kingdom-building program, and that we will refuse to overemphasize the
"distinctives" that divide us rather than the faith that unites us. It
is my constant hope and prayer that we will adopt a big-hearted and
grace-awakened approach to kingdom work without legalism,
traditionalism, manipulation, negativism, bitterness, and perfectionism.
The quality of our churches depends on it. Paul wrote about putting away
childish things when we became adults (1 Cor. 13:11), and that includes
mindless adherence to ritual. The readers of Hebrews were sternly
chastised for their inattentiveness to God's Word and to their
responsibility for spiritual growth (Heb. 5:11-14). It is folly to limit
our understanding of the faith to what we learned when we were spiritual
infants.

Friends, we have so often failed on
character, we have so often failed on kindness, we have so often failed
on love. But there is nothing weak or effeminate about grace. At the
same time, the church must always be reforming itself. It is just as
easy to fail on truth as it is to fail on love. So let’s be patient with
each other, remembering that there are some things that will never clear
up until we grow up, and others not until we go up.

7:35
AM
Lookie what came in this week's mail:

Thank you, Henry, for sending it to me. It is a splendid grammar and
leaves no stone unturned.

German books make great bookends, don't they?

7:22
AMHey there bloggers! As you may
know, I'm in my thirty-fifth year of teaching and writing. What does
this mean? What have I learned in all these years, if anything? As I've
pondered these questions I have come up a few somewhat tentative
answers:

I am not nearly as smart as I once thought I
was.

I still make lots of stupid mistakes, such as
blogging without carefully proofing my spelling.

I regret that I did not start blogging earlier.

I enjoy teaching more than ever.

I now try to delegate to others what I used to
insist on doing myself.

Good teaching focuses on the best students. That
is, good teachers think about how they treat their best students and
then treat all their students the same way!

Surprisingly, I've written more articles and
books than I set out to when I first started teaching.

Everything I've written could have been written
better.

I would like to attend more annual meetings
(SBL, SNTS) than I'm able to.

Things I like: students who ask questions,
well-written term papers, having summers and semester breaks off for
travel, the Kona coffee my secretary makes for me every morning, and
ethnic diversity in the classroom.

Things I don't like: waiting days for a response to an email I've
sent someone, New Testament commentaries that simply repeat what
everybody else is saying, not being able to stay up and study as late as
I used to, and book reviews that say absolutely nothing.

I definitely don't travel as well as I used to;
at 59, I'm beginning to feel my age.

I feel the debate over verbal aspect is much ado
about nothing (there are 3 aspects, and the indicative mood
grammaticalizes time).

Perception is reality; depending on my attitude,
I can spread hope or despair in the classroom.

I am not impressed with size; bigger is not
necessarily better. (This applies to churches as well as Christian
colleges and seminaries. Oh, did I mention books?)

I feel strongly that attendance should never be
required in the classroom.

I pray for my students more than ever, usually
outdoors here at the farm with my eyes open, enjoying a natural
conversation with my Father.

If I were younger I would do another doctorate
(this time in missions).

Nothing makes me smile more than watching my
first year Greek students finally "get it."

As never before I realize the importance of
love, which alone can keep me from libertinism on the one hand and
prevent me from being shipwrecked on the rocks of legalism on the other.

A caring heart is everything in a teacher.

Well, so much for my musings, which probably
sound a bit idyllic and utopian. I admit that many of my ideas about
teaching are more idealistic than realistic. But I am an
optimist! I suppose the best thing about my work is that it's never
boring. My workplace is a dynamic environment, and I can't wait to face
a challenging task that constantly requires new ideas and a fresh
outlook. Teaching is a passion for me and so I never feel really out of
place in the classroom. My goal is to provide a healthy learning
environment for every student that enters my classroom. Thankfully, when
I was a student I had several teachers who modeled what a good teacher
should look like, and I suppose my own teaching is a thank-you to them.
Above all, I love learning, and I always hope to remain a student
myself.

My thanks and love to the thousands of students
I've had in my classroom through the years, to my colleagues who are
always uplifting and encouraging, and to my Lord who gave me this
passion for teaching and learning. I feel very blessed.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to
proofread this blog entry.

Thursday, November 10

4:58
PMMy thanks to my colleague David
Lanier for his wonderful exposition of Hebrews in NT 2 class yesterday.
He scores a solid 10 on his interpretation of the high priesthood of
Christ, and deserves a high five for keeping everyone’s attention
(mostly through using dry humor, at which he is an expert).

David recognizes the larger metanarrative
of the letter and correctly sees the role that the mystery man
Melchizedek plays in its argument. He handled well the difficult topic
of genre (Hebrews is a "word of exhortation," i.e., sermon) as well as
the critical issue of authorship. His talk was easy to follow and
thought-provoking, informed by both scholarship and faith. Hebrews is a
great book for a Protestant church that is struggling with easy
believism and cheap grace. It's tailor-made for a Bible study group. Its
focus on the present tense of salvation in no way minimizes the past
tense of (forensic) justification. In addition, I love how the author
demonstrates how richly valuable the Old Testament remains for the
Christian community. No one reading his "word of exhortation" can do so
without gaining a deeper appreciation of the great and abiding benefits
we enjoy because of what our Great High Priest did for us on the cross.

As an aside, David and I have reenacted in
several Civil War battles together. Occasionally he "galvanizes" and
fights in the Blue, which means that we have often squared off against
each other at about 100 yards distance. Not once, however, has he ever
gone down. Either I'm a very bad shot, or the Federals wear Kevlar
uniforms.

4:42
PMGot
time
for some blogspotting? Here are some interesting essays and blog entries
I found recently:

1) Play a brass instrument? Europe is calling
you! Go
here to find out how.

2) Alvin Reid is calling for a revolution in
youth ministry. (Hint: A key is incorporating them into the life of
the whole church.)

3) The first ever 9 Marks conference in Hawaii
is now history. You can read a brief report
here. If SEBTS ever opens a campus on Oahu, I volunteer to teach
Surfing 101 and Beach Bumming 202. (I'm good at the former but a real
expert in the latter.)

4) Rick Perry stumbles at a presidential debate.
So what? "There is not a perfect candidate … and I'm proof positive of
that every day," was Perry's
response.

Good for you, Rick. As a person who knows a little bit about public
speaking, I have to say that gaffes are a normal part of doing business.
So is the ability to pull yourself together after making one and joking
about it. The debate in America today is not about the scope and
perfection of a person's elocution but about the nature of politics. I
am currently writing a book (called Godworld) in which I argue
that it is completely incoherent for a Christian to place any faith at
all in the religion of politics. That said, I have never said that
Christians should not become involved in politics or should not vote.
Just don't claim that your candidate has a unique "Christian" stance on
the issues. Vote your conscience, even if that means voting for a man
who is known for his shaky debate "performances."

6) I have written before about my Ed.D. student
Thomas Hudgins and his wife Lesly who are graciously
translating my beginning Greek grammar into Spanish. So far they
have completed a draft of the entire book and we are now going through
it with a fine toothed comb. If you or someone you know would like to
help us read through the manuscript, please feel free to contact me at
dblack@sebts.edu. I'm continually amazed at what God is doing with
this project. Whatever else you can say about language teachers, they
sure do have lots of fun. My ministry is one of equipping and
encouraging, and it is so good to see that work expanding into another
language. Thank you for your prayers for this project. It is a huge
task, but God is able.

7) Finally, Rod Decker reviews William
Mounce's book
Biblical Greek: A Compact Guide. Bill Mounce has done a yeoman's
service to the cause of New Testament Greek, for which he deserves a lot
of credit. He gives us books that are both readable and accessible. I
have read most of Bill's works and have never been disappointed. I
recommend his works to all Greek students, whether beginning or
advanced.

4:03
PMGreetings, my fellow
missions-minded bloggers!

Just back from a great time of ministry on
campus. Much of our discussion centered on what God is doing in the
world today. I continue to be amazed at how the church is growing
worldwide. In China, for example, it is now estimated that there are
about 130 million Christians, with about 10,000 new converts each day.
Perhaps one of the greatest needs the church in China has is for trained
leadership who will be able to disciple the new believers and teach them
how to read and study the Bibles on their own. Even in severely
restricted nations like Burma (Myanmar) we are seeing an explosion of
growth. Many today estimate that the Burmese population is 4 percent
Christian and growing. Every night on campus Nigusse and I pray for an
unreached people group in a specific nation of the world. In addition, I
am always interested to hear of organizations that are trying to do what
they can to help believers in these nations. One such effort is called
the
Chinese Treasures Christian Library 5.0, which
contains 177 different Bible, books, and
other Bible study resources available free of charge. Becky and I are
doing something very similar in southern Ethiopia, where we have
distributed the J. Vernon McGee "Through the Bible" series in Amharic to
the rural churches, and they are loving it!

Speaking of "Utopia," right now we are in full countdown mode here at
the farm. Team Ethiopia 2011 leaves in just 6 short days. If you follow
this blog, you know that we talk quite a bit about global missions and
the part each one of us has to play in the Big Picture of world
evangelization. Just what is that part? Remember: You can't lead a
person to Christ. You can't bring another believer to maturity either.
Only the Holy Spirit can do that. But we can be a link in that chain.
For whom are you a link today? God has made the United States of
America the wealthiest nation on earth for a reason, yet so many of us
go on living as though we have no obligation to a lost and dying world.
I am told that more than 95 percent of the total church budget in
America is spent to maintain our programs at home rather than to reach
out in missions to others. While we sit here, super-saturated with the
Gospel, most of the world is waiting for a first taste of the living
water that Jesus promises to anyone who is thirsty, irrespective of who
or what they are. Let's all be a link in the chain. We can at least pray
earnestly every day for the work of global evangelization. We can go as
God opens the door for us. We can seek to be Christ to those who don’t
yet know Him by developing webs of friendship. The good news about
evangelism and the Great Commission is that you don't have to be a
superstar to get involved. I love what we do in Ethiopia because it
allows us to partner with simple, everyday believers there who are just
like us in so many ways – in need of encouragement and occasional help.
You say, "I've messed up too much in my life to be any good to God." I
say, let the past be a rudder, not an anchor. Learn from it, but don't
ever let it hold you back from living the kind of radical, sharing
lifestyle that Christ calls us to.

As our
team prepares to leave for Ethiopia, I have a question for you. What is
your life worth to you? It's not what we give that counts but how much
we keep. John Wesley once said, "To lay up treasure on earth is as
plainly forbidden by our Master as adultery and murder." May we all
discover the joy of living for something bigger than ourselves, of
entering into servanthood on behalf of others, of serving God in the
power of the Holy Spirit. God can use us. He really can. Will we let
Him?

Missional blessings,

Dave

Monday, November 7

6:31
PMGood evening, friends. Today Becky and I enjoyed a long and enjoyable
drive through the Virginia countryside. The weather was beautiful and
the trees full of color. The beauty of the Piedmont in the fall beggars
anything else. I think I told you that we will be in Hebrews this week
in our NT 2 class -- Hebrews being the most non-anonymous of all the
anonymous NT writings. (Read chapter 13 and you will see that the
readers knew exactly who the author was.) The general consensus of
opinion, not only in the academy but now also on the street, is that the
apostle Paul could never have authored anything as magnificent as
Hebrews. You may have guessed by now that I do not necessarily agree
with the majority on this issue. I have little time, however, for such
matters these days. Work, real scholastic work, is piling up, and my
anticipated leisure after the weekend's campout has failed to
materialize. Tonight, however, I have no energy for anything other than
snuggling up with my latest book purchase (a tome on the Battle of
Chancellorsville). One final thing, though. Today we received this
picture via email. It shows Bradford Lee Black at 7 weeks. Isn't he the
most gorgeous grandbaby you have ever seen?

Yes, I realize Scripture says that "love does not boast," but I'm
sure that Paul did not have grandfathers in mind when he wrote that.

7:45
AMHello bloggers.

Yesterday I had a lot of fun giving a message about how God is
beginning to shake the foundations of the way people in the church think
about the kingdom. I spoke about obedience -- not necessarily huge,
momentous decisions, but little, tiny steps of discipleship. The kingdom
is a subtle contagion. It expands one small step of obedience at a time
in our lives. For example, Jesus turns power and authority on its head,
and His followers say, "Okay, makes no earthly sense to us, but if
that's what the Master says, it's good enough for us." Before his
conversion to Christianity in AD 200, Minucius Felix said of the
Christians, "They despise titles of honor and the purple robe of high
government office ... calling one another brother and sister
indiscriminately." He noticed how radically different the kingdom of God
is from all versions of the kingdoms of this world. The radical vision
of a Calvary-like kingdom is so new to me that I sometimes forget that
it's been around for almost 2,000 years!

The congregation I spoke
to yesterday is, I think, catching a vision of this cruciform kingdom.
Christendom is dying a slow death in America. The church is becoming
wary of cheap optimism under religious auspices. Jesus is calling us not
to a picnic but to a pilgrimage, and the path is anything but easy.
Anything can happen. You can get hurt, and you may be killed. I
challenged the congregation to fight "the real battle of Jericho" -- to
become aware of the danger of becoming so busy with the trivial that we
never get around to kingdom business. Like the Pharisees, we can get so
fussy about washing pots and pans and wearing robes and phylacteries and
being called rabbi and seeking high places in the synagogue, and all the
while tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of
us.

Blessings,

Dave

Sunday, November 6

7:50
AMHere's a nice serendipity. We heard from Oshe yesterday who wrote,
"We have another Becky in Burji now." Becky is Desta's new baby
daughter.

Who is Desta?

In 2009, sister Desta came to our heath clinic suffering from acute
pre-eclampsia. My Becky, realizing just how serious the situation was,
placed Desta in the ministry truck and sent her off to the hospital in
Arba Minch. Becky wrote specific instructions for the hospital staff
there -- you need a medical advocate in Ethiopia if you expect anything
to get done -- and told them that Desta needed to have an immediate
C-section in order to save her life and the baby's. The hospital did
nothing for three weeks. Eventually the C-section was performed, but the
baby was lost. Desta's life, however, was spared by the grace of God.

Now the Lord has given
Desta a baby girl, born safely by natural childbirth! And she has named
the baby "Becky." Thus ... "We have another Becky in Burji now." This,
for us, is quite a surprise and a great honor, since it goes against all
of the naming traditions in Burji. Here's Becky's reply to Oshe:

Oshe, that is
WONDERFUL news about Desta!!! Praise God!!! His mercies are new
every morning!!! It is amazing to me that she has named the baby
Becky. I pray that this baby Becky will see the face of God early
in life, and will give herself completely to following Him, loving
Him and trusting Him.

Below is a picture of Desta on her way to
the hospital in 2009.

A year later Becky and Desta were
tearfully reunited in Burji.

She and her husband presented us with a
goat as a token of their gratitude. What a great honor for us!

This morning, in case you were wondering,
I am speaking from Joshua chapter 6 on "The Real Battle of
Jericho." It was (a) a spiritual battle, (b) a battle of faith, (c) a
battle of obedience, and (d) a battle of humiliation.

Trivia question: Is Joshua a book of
history or a book of prophecy in the Hebrew canon? The answer might
surprise you.

Have a great day!

Dave

Saturday, November 5

9:36
PMI haven't had an opportunity until now to tell you how our first
annual campout went at the farm. Considering the fact that we held it so
late in the year (when the weather is so unpredictable), I think it was
a huge success.

As a group we camped together, ate together, sang songs together
(mostly country gospel -- we're all rednecks, after all), sat around and
talked -- a lot -- and otherwise teased each other no end. Because the
valley had been flooded out (we received over 2 inches of rain the night
before), we set up the tents in our front yard.

On the left is the Hilton where the men slept; on the right is our
Civil War reenacting tent that Becky and I slept in countless times on
"battlefields" near and far. The young whippersnappers started out there
but somehow, by morning, had all ended up indoors in front of the
fireplace in the library.

The ladies all slept indoors. We had lots of good talks, as I said,
no doubt partly because so many of us have been to Ethiopia together,
including Marshall, who is shown here with his buddy "Goosie."

I feel incredibly blessed to have friends like these. What amazed me
was how often the conversation turned to the theme of every member
ministry and how all of us are in fulltime ministry regardless of our
vocation or location.

As you can tell, this is in keeping with my current obsession with
the simple pattern of the New Testament. The ladies, of course, fed us
royally (thank you!). I honestly doubt whether any of us have ever eaten
better.

We sat around singing last night.

But things soon got out of hand, especially when Marshall starting
chiming in with his deep bass voice. (I won't say anything about his
rendition of "Danny Boy.")

No outdoor bonfire, but marshmallows roast just as well in a
fireplace, I guess.

For me the highlight of the weekend was the scavenger hunt that Becky
had organized.

We divided into teams and were sent from place to place on the farm
to find little placards with Scripture on them.

We all had to memorize Romans 1:16-17, and by the time we got back to
Bradford Hall each of us had recited the passage to our group at least
24 times.

Of course, Becky had us compete against each as teams for the right
to go first in the lunch line, and, sad to say, my team came in last.
(Life is not fair.)

Will we do this again next year? Judging from the positive response
of the group members, the answer is a resounding yes. A big tip of the
kepi to Becky for all the hard work and preparation she put into this
weekend, and to Nigusse for helping me with tables, chairs, and tentage.
Nigusse, you were a real trooper this weekend. Bless you for your
willingness to adapt to our crazy American culture.

Friday, November 4

9:14
PMWell, the tents are up, the rain has stopped, the moon is out, the
temps have dropped, and our campout is finally a reality. Thanks
to the help of miss Abigail, we had 26 people at our dinner table to
feast on beef stew and homemade bread. The gang has gone for a
flashlight walk while I've been assigned the task of heating up the hot
cocoa. Shortly it will be time to roast marshmallows. The big question:
Who will sleep outside tonight? Stay tuned ...

2:57
PMSpeaking of true biblical manhood, in our Philippians class this week
we were reminded of the fact that the apostle Paul was not unaffected by
raw human emotion. In 3:18 he writes, "I have told you this many times
before, and now I repeat it with tears in my eyes: there are many whose
lives make them the enemies of Christ's death on a cross."

There is nothing weak or
pitiful about tears. Paul was brokenhearted over the lost. He ached for
their salvation. He wept over broken relationships. Honestly, so do I.
Frequently. Especially during my prayer times. Nothing in this world can
be as dry and flat and tedious as a Christianity without emotions.

Our Lord knows all about
weeping. We have historic fact on the subject: "Jesus wept." And He is
the ultimate Mensch.

2:13
PMQuote of the day:

For all of my book
knowledge and all of my doctrinal study and my ability to deliver a
monologue, I am not a very mature Christian. I need to learn from
other men and I can't do that in a pew. If we don’t recover this
vision, the next generation in the church is going to look even more
like a quilting bee and less like the vibrant church full of godly
servant-leader men we see in Scripture.

1:20
PMI'm sure most of you could care less (and I wouldn't blame you one
bit), but it was exactly 8 years ago this month that I began blogging.
Go
here if you'd like to see what my original blog looked like back in
November of 2003. Sometimes little things have big consequences. I never
imagined 8 years ago that I'd still be blogging today. The thing is,
there is absolutely nothing I'd rather be doing -- apart from teaching,
evangelizing, traveling, farming, living life to its fullest, etc.! What
is most amazing to me is the fact that, out of His unfathomable love,
God allows me to do all of these things and not only do them but
enjoy doing them. I just wish I could articulate what I'm thinking
half as well as some of you out there in cyberspace. Oh, and my blog is
SO old-fashioned. Have you noticed? Nothing has changed in all these
years (except for the fact that I now know how to center pictures!).

So, 8 years. Not bad for a
guy who usually has his nose in a book or is traveling to some faraway
country. And this, I believe, is truly a very nice blessing from a very
serendipitous God.

12:50
PMThe controversy over the best Bible translation
continues. Of course,
no translation is quite as effective as the flesh and blood kind. As a
"living epistle," you are the world's most-read Bible. The only question
is: Are you merely a paraphrase, or are you a translation of the
original?

12:21
PMLooking forward to speaking in Annapolis, Maryland, January 7-9. Hope
to visit the U.S. Naval Academy while I'm there. I'm told the USNA
Museum has an outstanding display of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl
Harbor.

11:42
AMCampout update: It's been raining all night and the word is it's
supposed to continue to rain until this evening, when the weather will
turn clear. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny but cold. If nobody shows
up, Nigusse and I will have to eat a lot of food, that's for sure.

Thursday, November 3

5:40
PM
Looking ahead…

1) In just
over four weeks I leave for Asia again. This will be my third major trip
there this year, but all for a worthy cause.

2) Good
news here: Becky's visa for India has finally come through. Now we're
working on Nigusse's. The trip is scheduled for next February. Can't you
just see the two of them traipsing around Sikkim, Nepal, and Bangladesh
together?

3) This
weekend I am back at the Chinese Christian Mission Church in Durham. The
first part of the day will be spent having communion with the Chinese
congregation. That will be a first for me and I am looking forward to
it. Afterwards I'll speak to the English congregation.

4) The
following weekend I've been asked to do a "revival" at Hunt Springs
Baptist Church in Sanford, NC, Saturday and Sunday. I say "revival" in
quotes because actually all I'll be doing is bringing four very simple
Bible-based messages that I hope even a young child can understand. If
you're in the area (or even if you live in California and have frequent
flyer miles), do consider joining us. Service times are Saturday at 1:30
and 6:00 and Sunday at 11:00 and 6:00.

5) Finally,
tomorrow night and Saturday – believe it or not! – we're holding an
all-church campout at Rosewood Farm. That's right, bring your tents,
thermal underwear, and sleeping bags, because it will be cold (as in 30
degrees at night). Just tryin' to toughen ya up for the mission field,
boys and girls!

Energion Publications is small (but
growing). I have to consider business. I do have to sell books or
I'll shut down. But the ultimate mission is not making money. It's
about making followers of Jesus. We ask the question of whether we
can sell a book before we publish it. But we also ask, "Is this book
going to build God's kingdom?" That's part of every conversation on
whether to offer an author a contract.

I'm not
exactly sure what qualifies to be a "heavy-hitter" in today's world of
publishing, but as far as I'm concerned Energion is almost everything an
author could hope for. What an excellent, Christ-centered,
Gospel-focused, kingdom-building enterprise! Thank you, Henry, for your
inspiration, integrity, and determination. It is a joy and honor for me
to work with you.

3) I want
to commend to you the papers from the
conference on church planting and renewal
held this year at the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. Topics
include the quest for the historical Jesus and the continuation of New
Testament prophecy. You can either listen to the audio or print out the
lecture notes/papers. My thanks to DBTS for making these papers
available to a wider audience.

4) My
colleague Alvin Reid has written a phenomenal post about
encouragement. We all carry burdens,
some larger than others, but all of them are still burdens. In a way
that's good news, because troubles are the raw materials for our inner
growth. Growth is simply a positive response to our difficulties. But it
sure makes a huge difference when we have someone beside us cheering us
on. Goethe said, "Correction does much, but encouragement does more." So
read Alvin's essay and be encouraged. Then go out and encourage someone!

4:56
PMGreetings, faithful visitors! The
Wednesday edition of NT 2 featured my colleagues Maurice Robinson (who
spoke on textual criticism in general – and why he defends the Byzantine
Priority position) and Steve Frary (who walked us through the variant in
1 Tim. 3:16). Years ago Steve wrote a paper for me on that passage that
was subsequently published in Filologia Neotestamentaria. Go
here for the online version of
Steve's excellent essay. In class, I discovered something about Maurice
I had not known before, namely, that he had studied textual criticism
under the renowned New Testament scholar Kenneth W. Clark at Duke, which
makes Big Bo a truly accomplished textual critic, since he now has the
best of both worlds – a Duke education and a Southwestern Ph.D. (Yes, I
stole that line from President John Kennedy who, when speaking at a
Harvard commencement, quipped "It might be said now that I have the best
of both worlds, a Harvard education and a Yale degree.") According to my
colleague, it was Clark who first challenged the young New Testament
scholar to question the Alexandrian Priority view, which has led to no
end of helpful contributions to the field by Maurice. I am so glad to
hear that there are profs at Duke who know how to grab students by their
brains and turn them loose. We do need to teach outside-the-box thinking
to make education meaningful to today's generation of students. I have
already told you that I picked my seminary professors because of their
ability to motivate, not disseminate (information). This created an
atmosphere of mutual respect and maximum learning. This is, in fact,
what I am trying to do in my NT 2 class by having so many guest
lecturers who are experts in their fields and good communicators to
boot. So thank you, gentlemen, for making our class come alive – and
that's saying a lot when you consider that textual criticism is such an
intrinsically "boring" subject (he-he)!

Speaking of our NT 2 class, you might be interested in some of the class
assignments that were due yesterday:

1) Shout out and congrats
to my colleague and friend Heath Thomas whose new book
Great Is Thy Faithfulness? has just been published. Looks like a
winner. And don't you love those Wipf & Stock book covers?

7) The
Logos edition of the International Standard Version is now
available. As you may know, I had the privilege of serving as the New
Testament editor when the New Testament was translated many years ago.

8) Finally, the world
population reached 7 billion yesterday, just 12 years after hitting 6
billion. 7 billion people are 7 billion good reasons to be about the
Father's business of global evangelization.